Sliding door.



I. H. ROBERTS,

SLIDING DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27, I917.

' 1,294,169., Patented Fe .11,1919.

/5 4 1 2, 5 2 f g .3 J

/ ,/0 ii? J 3 Witnesses Inventor Attorneys JAMES H. ROBERTS, OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.

SLIDING DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb, 11, 1919.

Application filed June 27, 1917. Serial No. 177,251.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. RoBnn'rs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Charleston, in the county of Charleston. and State of South Carolina, have invented new and useful Sliding Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to sliding doors, one of its objects being to provide doors having means whereby when they are grouped in pairs, the movement of one of the doors to shut position will result in a corresponding movement of the other door and vice versa.

A still further object is to provide mechanism of this character which is simple in construction, compact, and can be readily applied to sliding doors without necessitating the enlargement of the door casing, said mechanism being capable of use within the ordinary housing provided for the door hangers and the rail.

With the foregoing and other objects in vieW which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in th combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, can be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the upper portions of two sliding doors and the mechanism combined therewith.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 22 Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 Fig. 1.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, A and B designate doors, the door A having a pair of hangers 1 and 2 connected to the upper edge thereof, while the door B has a pair of hangers 3 and 4 attached to its upper edges. Each of the hangers 1, 2, 3, and 4. has a grooved wheel 5 connected to the upper portion thereof, and all of these wheels bear downwardly on and are adapted to travel along a rail 6 fixedly mounted above the doors. A stud 7 is extended laterally from the middle portion of the rail directly opposite a. bracket 8 which is used for holding the rail fixedly in position. J ournaled on this stud is a gear 9, and so arranged that the path of movement of the hangers extends between the gear and the rail 6, as shown particularly in Fig. 2.

Secured to the door is a foot or attaching base 10 extending downwardly from one end of arack bar 11. This rack bar is extended under the gear 9 and over but out of contact w1th the door B, said rack bar being parallel with the rack 6. The hanger 3 is provided with a guide finger 12 on one side thereof which extends under this bar 11 and serves to support it thus to insure constant engagement of the rack bar 11 with the gear 9. Secured to the top of the door B is a foot or attachingbase 13 of another rack bar 14:. This base is of sufiicient height to support the rack 14; over and in engagement with the upper portion of the gear 9. Back bar 19 is arranged above the door A and is in sliding engagement with a guide finger 15 extending laterally from the upper portion of the hanger 2. This finger prevents the rack 14 from shifting upwardly out of engagement with the gear 9.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the entire mechanism is no thicker than the thickness of the doors to which it is attached and, furthermore the height of the mechanism is no greater than would be required for the ordinary door hangers. Consequently, all of the described mechanism can be housed in the space ordinarily provided within the top portion of a door casing such as provided where sliding or hanging doors are employed. By providing the oppositely arranged rack bars and the interposed gear it will be seen that 'when one of the doors is moved in one direction the other door will be moved the same distance in the opposite direction. Thus when one door is moved to closed position the other door is similarly moved and both doors will come together directly at the center of the door opening. Where no connection is provided between sliding doors it has been found that after one door has been moved to closed position the other, when also moved to closed position will strike the door first closed and tend toopen it. By providing mechanism such as described, however, this action will not occur but both doors will close together accurately and remain so closed.

What is claimed is:

A combination with a rail, and opposed doors thereunder, of a pair of hangers connected to the upper end of each door and extending across one side of the rail, wheels journaled on the hangers and bearing downwardly on the rail, a bracket secured to the beyond the rail, a foot attached to the upper end of each door, a rack bar extending-from each foot and beyond the edge of one door and overhanging the other door, one rack being higher than the other, a gear journaled on one slde of the rail, and between and engaged by the racks, sa1d racks belng held in mesh with the gear by the ends of the bracket'on the rail, and guide fingers on the hangers nearest the gear, said fingers engaging the respective racks.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing 15 as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES H. ROBERTS.

Witnesses:

IVY E. SIMPSON,. PHILOMENA A. RooKELLI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents,

Washington, D. 0'. 

